The story so far and the road ahead

The road ahead:

pointReturn is so far on the planned trajectory. It has a reality check coming up in 2020 when funding will run out. If by that time labor, planning and time have been well invested, it can reach a sustainable steady state. But with time flying by, drift can also occur, resulting in an unrealised dream.

The dream consists of the following:

:: About 8 to 10 volunteers will reside in the pointReturn eco-commune maintaining its assets and sharing work and rewards

:: pointReturn will meet local needs of bio-fuel

:: Visitors and learners would be welcomed to gain experience and contribute their efforts

:: The land will play host to one or more kindred activities like an animal shelter, ayurvedha hospital, herbal farm, bird study centre, tree nursery or their like [more suggestions are welcome]

To provide a structure for this dream to incubate and emerge, pointReturn was incorporated into a registered private trust in 2012. It is a charter developed after year long discussions between myself and the three residents along with consultations with lawyers. Construction of each sentence was debated till agreement emerged. It is a trust that is irrevocable unless the dream fails. It sets out the non-negotiable tenets, general rules of operations, guidelines for inducting residents, sharing revenue and inviting kindred groups. It also provides for flexibility with new situations as they emerge. The charter is based on the credo that ownership does not rest with the holder of title to the land but with those for whom failure of the goals of the charter is not an option.

..and where we are now:

pointReturn has been in the throes of a dry spell for the last 15 months. Trees have suffered, water table dropped and all activities flagged. Nearly an year has been lost. Such a time is a wrong one in which to attempt an assessment of where the project is, where it is headed and what issues hang over it. For, one may sound more despondent than is called for.

Nevertheless, it is time to ask the questions: Despite all sincere intentions, have we succeeded in creating an eco-commune? Or, feel confident about being on the road to creating one? The answer has to be a muffled ’no’.

2010 saw three people come on board, subscribing to the idea detailed at this website since 2006. We began to ready shelter, a solar oven to cook for many, upscaling the solar power plant, a second toilet and a set of tools to keep a team of ten busy, all in anticipation of the numbers swelling. We hoped the increased numbers would ratchet up all round activity. We dug a well. We began to record trees, birds, food produced, images and work done. We blogged. We developed an activity schedule believing it would enable newcomers to instantly step into a routine. We had weekly meetings talking about policies and plans.

Then, about two years ago, energy levels at pointReturn began to ebb and routines began to fray. Why? It is hard to reply with any certainty. The answer may lie between the lines that follow. Although many people came to visit, none went on to become a resident. Our numbers stagnated. Why? The premise of pointReturn is that no one will ever have the right to title of the property but only to the rewards of their collective work. Is this a serious flaw? Have we been sufficiently active in welcoming, communicating, sharing the excitement about the pointReturn adventure? Are people loathe to work and live on land they do not own? Are educated people -who were our target group- unwilling to bend their backs? Do early enthusiasms peter out, the comfort zone one left, yielding to a newer one? The net result is, at the end of 7 years pointReturn is vulnerable and at a cross-roads.

If it does not become a self-sustaining, eco-commune by 2020, what will become of it? What can be done to prevent it falling in the hands of people who have no respect for the environment- a housing developer or a chemical farmer, say?

The options tried so far have not fructified: a hostel for orphans, an SOS children’s village, an approach to Auroville.

What would work ideally is a goshala as a main anchor around which a biogas digester,a vermi-compost plant, a bird study centre, a nursery, an apiary and a meeting place for arts and ideas, can emerge.

There is space enough for these but where are the leads, energies and in quick time? Please write with your specific suggestions, ideas and leads to goodnewsindia[at]gmail[dot]com

Thus stands pointReturn, brought up so well so far, but now in need of more people to take it in hand and lead it to a stable future. No doubt every place -like every man- has a destiny of its own, but has not every man received care?

hello rajan…
yes, yes… i do recall our connection.
i am sorry i have taken all this time to reply.
slowing down, i am afraid
agains thanks for getting in touch
sridharandv [at] gmail will get me if you want to write again
regards
dv

Dear sir,
I have been a follower of your sites- GoodnewsIndia and PointReturn. In fact I have followed you as you went about your work. Through your wonderful posts I have shared your joys, triumphs and disappointments. I wish you luck. In between when there was no posts for a long time I slowly drifted out.
It is after a long time I am coming back and felt I should convey my deep appreciation for the huge challenge you have taken at this age.
My thanks also for the huge collection of highly motivating news about India that you had collated and published in your GoodnewsIndia site.
Thank you sir, for having given many proud moments reading the highly inspirational stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things without any desire for name or fame.

Thank you sir, once more for having inspired me in some of the most tough periods of my life. Good luck! God bless!
narendran

Hi I have followed pointreturn for sometime . I want to suggest few more ideas from around web for reclamtion of wastelands and imporve soil nutrients. One of the idea is studying Terra Preta soils of Amazonia which have very high carbon content from charcoal which provides a rich medium for storing nutrients and a condusive environment for microbes. I have also come across articles around use of humic acid for improving soil fertility. Neyveli lignite corporation sells humic acid @ 30/litere. Once of my friend did use humic acid for his water melon field. Though he couldn’t say if it improved the yield in short term ,the benefits seems to be long term. Another soil fertility and pest management forming is from Subhash palekar’s Zero budget forming using Jeevamrut ,agniasrta etc. I have seen a listing of farmers using and benefitting from Zero budget forming techniques. I am not sure if DV has incorporated some of these,since I have not been following regularly.

Dear DV,
I have followed your efforts since the initial days of Goodnewsindia.com. It is a great effort indeed and nothing has been a failure. There is a wealth of information and resource. There are so many important lessons. My feeling is, the failures are mainly in the growing department. It probably requires a lot more in depth understanding of the soil, water, climate, suitable seeds, crop selection etc. I was so thrilled after reading fukuoka’s ‘one straw revolution’ and tried a few things in the same line. The seeds I threw didn’t even sprout! Raised bed growing was much better but still pest control was impossible by natural methods! I feel it requires a lot more skill to grow successfully and it is not surprising if we are met with failure in the initial attempts. The soil there might need a lot of work or enrichment with organic matter to enable it to grow more successfully. (here in UK, I see truck loads of manure emptied on the field and mixed with the top soil to make it organic rich)An effective way of irrigation may be needed. I wonder if polytunnels would be successful in growing as they conserve the water by keeping the water vapour within the polytunnel. Polytunnels also help pest control. I wish you had input from expert growers for every crop tried there. Diligent following of their advice would help find more successful growing. I also felt a more limited choice of crops, best suited for the conditions of the land there would be more appropriate. This would help us to concentrate on them more, understand their needs better and get maximum yield. I think everything else has been accomplished exceptionally well there especially the pond, swales, dwellings, windpump etc.

“goshala as a main anchor around which a biogas digester,a vermi-compost plant … can emerge”

Goshala will be a lot of work and you will need more people for it. But biogas-digeser and vermi-compost can be had without a goshala in the beginning. Actually we can put any bio-waste in biogs-digester like leaves, left-over food, fruits that grow on your trees, etc. And these will work much better than cow-dung and produce much more bio-gas. Same for vermi-compost too. You can add goshala as well later when you have the man-power to support it.

Did it rain there since you last reported? What does pR produce on an annual basis? How much is annual revenue of pR? Of-course the cost at pR would be much more, but is it going down?

Dear DV, I am a long time fan/admirer of your project at point return. Saddened to see that you don’t think you have made enough progress. Sincerely hope you achieve your original goal of setting up an intentional community. Good luck. Do keep us posted of any new developments.
Sincerely,
Capton.

capton,
maybe my feelings that sadden you about insufficient progress at pR are due to my age- 72! time does run very fast when one is that old!
i do hope pR becomes a lively, active community someday.
i am hoping to work to realise that and shall post on steps i take
dv

I am a longtime visitor of goodnewsindia dot com and have felt inspired by your work and looking forward to your success. You have not published data on number of visitors and kind of visitors on an annual basis. You have also not made your trust document and the clauses in it public. They may be of value to others who may want to copy it when making their own trusts. It also may inspire future volunteers.

You asked, “The premise of pointReturn is that no one will ever have the right to title of the property but only to the rewards of their collective work. Is this a serious flaw?”

No, not at all. This is a must.

PointReturn needs to do several things that integrate with each other to create value for not only the people outside PointReturn, but also for people inside PointReturn. Probably people don’t see value for themselves when living in PointReturn and hence your numbers have stagnated. People will see value for themselves in living at PointReturn only in terms of getting a job and being paid for it.

1. You can pay money to hire live-in workers, who live for free and get annual salary of say fifty thousand rupees or whatever makes sense there. So you are paying in both cash and kind. You may get more volunteers if they see that they get to become supervisors and will have workers to do hard work.

2. To earn more cash, try to make PointReturn as a recreational facility that people from Chennai can visit. You will have to develop some recreational facilities in addition to investing in more huts, solar power, bio-gas for cooking, diesel generators etc. You can advertise for couple and family retreat and outdoor birthday parties. Recreational facilities could be hiking/biking/canoeing/petting zoo etc. Probably students from colleges or young adults can become your target customers. This will not only earn more cash for you but also increase visitor flow to PointReturn and hence potential future volunteers. People living in Chennai may value an opportunity to live in peaceful natural setting for a weekend, where they have opportunity for recreation, and don’t have to worry about cooking. They may want to pay for it as long as there are good recreational opportunities. Or you can setup a small adventure park in one acre where people can try rock climbing, and other such sport.

3. You already have excellent ideas about vermi-culture, and bio-fuel etc. But you need to start producing these and selling the products to local farmers and market.

4. The real value and sustainability would come from how much valuable does PointReturn become in economic terms. How much cash flow can it generate by selling what ever it produces both services and products to outside world.

dear amit…
i appreciate your having written and apologise for this delayed reply.
yes, pR has to do a number of things now and i am trying to figure out what and how. thanks for your ideas. i respond as below:
1- two issues with this- a- people motivated by the pR mission are unlikely to agree to work for money and the reverse is also not automatic. b- in the longer run the payments made to people has to be generated by and at pR.
2- this i am afraid is a terrible idea. tourism -of any kind- means pampering and pollution.i would not walk this road at all, no
3- thanks, yes. these are very viable. i am casting about to see how to kick-start them.
4- perfect. you got it absolutely right. that was the original intention behind an adventure like pR. i might add, the challenge is how to do that consistent with environmental integrity.
thanks again. keep following what happens here and wish me the best does.
dv